A growing number of Americans end up in Russian jails. The prospects for their release are unclear

U.S. citizens jailed in Russia include a Wall Street Journal reporter, a vacationing corporate security executive and a dual national visiting her family in Tatarstan. Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common in recent years, as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows. The U.S. accuses the government of President Vladimir Putin of targeting Americans for political reasons and using them as bargaining chips, but Russian officials have insisted they all have violated the law. Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the U.S., but for others, the prospects of being released in a swap are less clear.